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Ross Mason photo

Cactus Shadows senior runner Patrick Cronin (front) leads the pack during a cross country meet Oct. 4 against Notre Dame and Sunnyslope. The Falcons boys swept the meet to improve to 14‑0 on the season. (Click pictures for full size images)

Region realignment may shuffle prep deck

Cactus Shadows could possibly move up to 4A‑Division I next year, while Sandra Day O’Connor could be moving down from 5A during the next two‑year scheduling block for the Arizona Interscholastic Association.

The AIA last week collected enrollment figures from all 234 Arizona schools that participate and broke 5A and 4A into 57 teams each.

O’Connor, which has seen an enrollment drop to 1,868, will probably move down to 4A. Cactus Shadows, meanwhile, is right on the fence of changing 4A divisions. The school has 1,711 students, which put it in the middle of the dividing line of 4A.

Boulder Creek, with a projected enrollment of 2,164 students, and Goldwater (2,126) will likely stay in 5A‑Division II.

The enrollment figures, which were based on Oct. 1 figures (except for Boulder Creek’s projected total), are the first step in realigning the AIA conferences. A full realignment and 2007‑08 schedules will be finished by the spring sports season.

Here is a roundup of other local prep sports news:

CROSS COUNTRY

n Cactus Shadows had two boys runners finish in the top 20 on Oct. 7 at the George Young Invitational. Patrick Cronin finished 14th with a time of 17 minutes, 13.49 seconds, while teammate Kyle Short took 17th at 17:19.67. The two performances helped the Falcons take 11th as a team. Cactus Shadows’ girls team finished 16th overall.

Daniel Lovell came in first to lead three top 10 finishers for Boulder Creek’s boys team in a meet Oct. 4 against Maryvale, Goldwater and Peoria.

BOYS GOLF

Boulder Creek (21‑1) wrapped up its regular season last week and will be off until the 5A Sectional Tournament on Oct. 23‑24. Goldwater and O’Connor still have competitions prior to sectionals. The state tournament is set for Nov. 8‑9 at Maryvale Golf Course.

GIRLS GOLF

Boulder Creek, Goldwater and O’Connor played in this week’s Deer Valley Cup. Results were unavailable at press time.

SWIMMING

Cactus Shadows wrapped up its regular season meets last week and is now preparing for the playoff push. The Falcons’ boys whipped Phoenix Christian 134‑50 on Oct. 5 to finish the regular season 7‑4. The girls, meanwhile, capped an 8‑2‑1 season with a 116‑69 win over Phoenix Christian.

At the Nike Classic over the weekend, the Falcons held their own against some of the state’s top 4A and 5A teams. In combined scoring, the boys and girls finished 13th out of 20 teams–the boys took 10th, while the girls claimed 14th place.

“We had swimmers and divers competing against powerhouse high schools like Rincon, Catalina Foothills, Millennium and Xavier College Preparatory,” coach Eric Niebch said. “There was a mix of 4A and 5A schools, and we had a good meet getting us ready for regionals and state.”

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